There will be something sweet coming to our area in the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia.
Free ice cream will be distributed as part of the #ISceamForEquality ice cream tour, where an ice cream truck will be traveling across Virginia between now and Election Day, November 5.
They’ll be urging voters to support candidates who will make Virginia the next state to ratify the constitution amendment first proposed in 1972. The majority, if not all, of those candidates, are Democrats.
The truck is scheduled to arrive in Fredericksburg on September 3, and later in Manassas on September 16. The actual locations of the truck will be listed on Instagram.
An effort last year led by Virginia State Delegate Hyla Ayala to ratify the ERA in the House of Delegates failed. Last year, Delegate Jennifer Carrol Foy came up empty after she led the effort to convince the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to urge state legislators to support ratification of the ERA.
When it was proposed, the measure needed three-quarters of U.S. states to ratify the constitutional amendment by 1982. Opponents argue the time to ratify the ERA has passed, and they fear the ERA will have many unintended consequences for issues such as collegiate sports teams, men and women sharing bathrooms and prisons, divorce and alimony proceedings, and abortion.
